Build up to Fathers day 2020

So this year I decided to push the envelope. My better half asked me what I wanted for fathers day this year. After much negotiating we decided on a battle! I’ve been dipping my toe into 10mm after seeing some awesome posts and having done a little bit of FOW getting used to the scale. I also managed to get my hands on warmaster and warmaster ancients (along with PDF files of warmaster medieval)

I also discovered Kallistra (hope i’m spelling that right) and their amazing hex based terrain. As someone who generally muddles through with terrain this was a one stop shop for me and seems to have solved much of my problems. At time of writing I am just waiting on some final bits to arrive from them and I should have everything I need terrain wise for the battle on Sunday.

Sooo I should probably mention the armies. Whilst browsing Pendraken at the awesome historical goodness (I think my little one has got me a set for Father’s Day, possibly republican Rome) I spotted the samurai apes. No more needed to be said and I was adding them to the basket. Liz then decided she wanted wood elves so they got added in too. Meaning this Sunday it will be Kublai Kong versus…some elf.

I do need to finish the bases and flocking etc. Also it dawned on me that my happy little apes seem to be massively outnumbered! Especially when I take into account the treemen! So I might have to include some elephants for myself for reasons of balance and because I’m very happy with them.

Sooo whilst I was watching some twitch tonight I thought I’d best press on. I had ordered some 10mm principes from Magister which I’ve had a go at painting tonight. Bit stumped what to do regarding the flags because my freehand work isn’t the best. This was rather than actually finish basing my samurai obv but I’ll be updating them either tomorrow or Thursday.

if Sunday goes well it also gives me a chance to break out the warhammer empires that I had. The hex map (I think it was called empires but I wouldn’t swear to it).

I’ll take some pics of the layout and armies when the hills etc arrive but looking forward to it.

Got home from work today to find my kallistra order of hills has arrived! So obv immediately had to lay them out on the floor to see how they look.

whilst the hex system is growing on me I am so pleased with how these arrived. Personally I’ve always been terrible at making any terrain that isn’t a building so my battles have always been on gaming mats. But now have gone full 3D woohoo.

so here are some pics of them laid out. Only a small board section for tonight because I’d only have to pack it all away before the morning.

Tonight I’ve finished flocking the armies so all being well everything is ready for Sunday! I realised I have put very few pictures or explanations on.

for this scale as it was my first real attempt i was using contrast paints pretty much exclusively. Especially for the samurai I found the colours really bright!. So for the apes I used basilicum grey for the fur. And different main block colours (blood angels red, yellow etc).

i have based them all on 20×40 bases using warmasters 3 stands per unit idea. I’m hoping this means I can still adapt them to other rulesets in the future.

Im actually using the war master medieval rules for the samurai apes (tiger riders being guard with bows) and the wood elves straight from the war master armies that Ben and Gerry linked to the other week.

Today is the day. Kublai kong versus Buddy the elf. The forces arrayed. Staring out over the plains before the shundo river and the outskirts of Shundo village itself.

I wish dear reader I could give glad tidings of the mighty victory of Kublai, and how he drove the pointy ears back to their realm. I wish, but alas cannot.

Despite a fierce and mighty battle across the bridge it was a massacre. Kublais forces being routed from the field having sustained a loss of over half his forces whilst the forces of Buddy lost a mere 3 stands in total.

on a serious note though as a first game for both of us (my wife wielding the forces of Buddy the elf to brutal effect) it was great. Despite me being hammered, the game was quick and fun (60 mins total including set up and packing away and a brief pause to check the little one). We did use somewhat simplified rules (the hexes made it much easier basically removing the need for tape measures).